Man Made: A Stupid Quest for Masculinity by Joel Stein

Man Made: A Stupid Quest for Masculinity by Joel Stein, memoir, humor, 285 pages.

At the end of this book Stein gives credit to A. J. Jacobs, author of My Year of Living Biblically, Drop Dead Healthy and other non-fiction works where the author commits him or herself to chronicling their attempt to do something absurd or pointless over a long period of time to amuse the audience. Stein's entry into this genre of nonfiction-quest-literature is definitely amusing, though maybe not a book to be read over a short period of time. It is episodic, but also seems a bit repetitive- you might not mind if you were waiting a week or a month for the next installment of this tale. At the age of thirty-nine, and about to have his first son, Stein feels unequal to the task ahead of him. He doubts whether or not his testosterone level is high enough to pass on anything of value about being a man to his son, Lazlo. In order to man-up, Stein spends time with professional athletes, firefighters, hunters, MMA fighters, soldiers, and Marines. He finds that masculinity in America today is defined differently, even contradictorily. Stein seems comfortable throughout making fun of his own shortcomings, but also saying hilarious things to and about the various armed and angry men with whom he is hanging out. Each chapter is a gem, and much of it is laugh-out-loud funny and will have strangers on the plane glancing nervously your way. Stein is an hilarious writer and refuses to take the sacred tenets of whatever cult of manhood he is investigating seriously. The genre itself is getting a bit overworked and in this book, there is not enough variety in the tone and the pace to recommend reading it straight through. Check our catalog.